The Syrian civil war is an ongoing war between multiple parties taking place in Syria since the past seven years. The unrest started in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring protests that had originated in Tunisia. People in Syria protested against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad who suppressed all dissent with violent clampdowns. The protests then soon ballooned from mass protests to a full-fledged armed rebellion. Today, the opposing sides are: